The costs of the invasion of Ukraine are about to exceed the budget by the equivalent of around SEK 260 billion this year, according to a letter from within the Kremlin that the FT has seen.
In the letter, dated February, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov asked the government to freeze large expenditures in other areas to cover rising war costs.
Around 40 percent of Russia's state budget is being directed towards the war. The planned deficit for 2026 was already exceeded in the first quarter of this year.
Finance Minister Siluanov told the newspaper Kommersant that “reserves are not infinite” and that more restraint will be required going forward.
